Container for individual tooth-brushes.



A. M. CARSWELL.

CONTAINER FOR INDWIDUAL TOOIH BRUSHES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-30,1913.

Patented Apr. 18

"mmmm ens P TENT OFFICE.

ARGHIBALD MILLS GARSWELL, F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR Tp RUBBER &

GELLULOID HARNESS TRIMMING (10., 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

con'ramnn. non INDIVIDUAL crown-BRUSHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

Application filed October 30, 1913. Serial No. 798,183.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARoHIBALo MILLS,

CARswnLL, a citizen of 'the- United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have nvented certain new and useful Improvements in Containers for Individual Tooth-Brushes,

of which the following is a specification.

The invention has for its object the production of a new commercial package, to wit a tooth brush and a hermetically sealed transparent non-absorbent and non-fragile container inclosing and, while permitting the same to be readily and fully seen, protecting the brush against the dust and germs that maybe carried in the air and against being handled by prospective purchasers. It is a very common practice for a person selecting a tooth brush, to scrub his thumb over the bristles of several brushes and finally purchase one of them. It is also very common for druggists to display tooth brushes, loosely dumped into a basket, on a counter or in a show window or a'glass case, the brushes being exposed to whatever may gather on them. It 'is also somewhat usual to pack tooth brushes individually in paste-board or paper boxes, but these boxes are not non-absorbent nor do they permit ed before being purchased, with the result that the sellerwill remove the brush from the box and then after the brush has been handled by the customer return it to the :5 box if the brush has'not been purchased and that finally a number of the brushes that have been handled will likely be left on sale.

The purpose of my invention is to safeguard tooth brushes from being contamio nated and to do so in a way that is not only efiicient but of commercial. practicability. With the use of my invention a druggist may display the brushes on his counter or in the show-window and toss them around just 5 as he has usually done with the bare brushes,

since my containers are transparent and not fragile but on thecontrary are of tough texture and sufficiently stifi', though of pli;

able material, to maintain their shape and o appearance even though handled roughlyl;

the style of the inclosed brush to be inspectmaterial of appropriate length and width and fold it into tubular form and unite the longer overlapped edges of the sheet with acetone or equivalent substance adapted to weld the edge portions of the sheet together and efl'ectually close and seal the joint be tween them, may be inserted lengthwise into the trans parent tube and the ends of the tube then correspondingly flattened and folded over at their edge portions and sealed with the use of acetone or the like, thereby fully in closing the tooth brush and confining it within an air-tight transparent non-absorbent and non-fragile container. Of course instead of placing the tooth brush within the tube and then closing both ends of the tube in the manner described, one end of the tube may be closed and the tooth brush then inserted and the other end of the tube thereafter closed, the steps of the process not being essential as to the order in which they are followed. The tooth brush may be fully inspected through the walls of the transparent container, and while within the container the brush against being handled and against the deposit thereon of germs or other matter carried in the air. The pyroxylin material itself, unlike paper and paste-board, is of sanitary character and being non-absorbent, will not in any brush.

The invention will be fully understoodfrom the description hereinafter presented, reference being had tofthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a transparent tooth brush container embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a top View of the same; Fig. 3 .is a horizontal longitudinal section through the same on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical transverse section through the same on the dotted line 4-4 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of one end por tion of the container, this figure being an enlargement of the right hand end portion of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, designates the container and 11 the tooth brush therein. In the preferred construction the container is formed from a sheet of celluloid or other pyroxylin material or some equivalent material having similar characteristics.

and thereupon a tooth brush is fully protected' The sheet of celluloid or the like, inthe formation of the container, is first folded into tubular form with the long edge portions of the sheet overlapping, as at 12, and these overlapped portions of the sheet are united by able substance for the purpose, as acetone. Thereafter one end of the tube then formed from the sheet may have its opposite sides brought together and folded over with a double fold, as shown in Fig. 5, the meeting portions of the material being united, under pressure, with the use of a suitable substance, such as acetone. The tooth brush may then be placed in the open end of the partially formed container and thereafter the said end will have its opposite faces brought together and folded over with a double fold, the meeting faces of the material being united, under pressure, with the use of an appropriate material, such as acetone. The container thus formed forms a hermetically closed casing for the tooth brush and protects the brush againstbeing handled or otherwise contaminated. Instead of first closing one end of the tube and then the other, the brush may be inserted in the open tube and both ends of the'latter closed either simultaneously or separately, as desired. The container formed in the manner described may be very conveniently packed and displayed and it may also be roughly handled and tossed about in a display case or on the counter of a drug store without any special danger of being broken or otherwise injured. The container being transparent permits the brush inclosed therein to be readily inspected and said material being flexible its opposite sides may be pressed between finger and thumb against the bristles and their hardness somewhat spondingly tapered determined in that way, and due to the flexibility and resiliency of the sides of the container, said sides after having been pressed inwardly against the bristles and released, will automatically spring outwardly to their normal shape and condition. The material of the container being of the tough texture. of celluloid or other pyroxylin compound will maintain its shape and present a smooth rounded surface and not become crushed with usual handling, as would a paper container.

The container of my invention is also of distinctive shape in that the opposite sides of its end portions are substantially-correand approach the extreme ends of the brush, thus centering the brush within the container and at the same time saving space in the packing and display of the brushes. The upper and lower walls of the container, between the ends of the article, curve inwardly on correspondthe application thereto of a suit-' closed elongated casing container and in a position 1n which it may be readily inspected. The shape of the containers results in a uniform holding of the brushes therein and in the packages being of uniform character and appearance. The

folded-over end portions of the'container by which the side portions of the ends of the container become correspondingly convergently tapered, impart suflicient strength and rigidity to the ends of the container to prevent said ends from being crushed inwardly with ordinary handling and also to protect the container as a whole from injury under ordinary circumstances.

The tooth brushes will be sold in the containers without the latter being in any way opened, and the purchaser will cut or otherwise open the container and remove the tooth brush therefrom, the container being destroyed by the act of opening it.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A tooth-brush container comprising a of transparent, flexible and resilient pyroXylin material and of a size adapting it to snugly hold an individual tooth brush, said container being of tubular formation and having the sides of its end portions flattened together, the eX treme ends of the container being folded over and welded together by a solvent of pyroxylin.

2. A tooth-brush container comprising a closed elongated tubular casing of transparent, flexible and resilient pyroXylin material and of a size adapting it to snugly hold an individual tooth-brush, saidcontainer being an integral piece of sheet material overlapped at its longer edge and said parts being welded together by a solvent of pyroxylin, and the sides of the end portionssof the container being flattened together and united by a solvent of 3. A tooth-brush container comprising a closed elongated tubular casing of transparent, flexible and resilient pyroxylin material and of a size adapting it to snugly hold an individual tooth-brush, said container pyroxylin material.

thereby 

